> [Original Message] > From: John Wager <johnwager@xxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Date: 11/13/2005 8:47:07 PM > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Willie Pete's Role Reversal > > Andy Amago wrote: > > >. . . . > >In my opinion society wants young soldiers because they're innately more > >aggressive; think school yard. > > > Modern warfare doesn't particularly need aggressive soldiers; it doesn't > take much aggressiveness to fire an M-16 or a tank gun. But modern > warfare DOES want young soldiers because they are less likely to ask > questions of those who order them to do things. This does have some > military justification; in war, it IS sometimes necessary to just do > it. But the price for this quick acceptance of authority is high. > > >I think if everyone were recruited, > >regardless of age or sex or occupation, with a cut off of say, 70, with no > >deferments for health status, war would lose a lot of its support real > >quick. > > > > > We would also have a lot more questioning of orders. I always tell my > students that I think we should re-institute the draft, and that all > philosophy majors should be drafted first, because the Army needs people > in it who DO question authority and who DO want to stop and ask > questions about morality, even before the deeds are done. > > But having said that, I don't think that ANY democratic society can > exist without an army that does what the electorate asks, however stupid > or Republican that electorate is. Soldiers must be willing to give the > society the benefit of the doubt, so that unless they are asked to do > something that is clearly immoral and/or illegal, they should follow > orders. We can't have a military if every single soldier can determine > what is a "100%" defensive war. > > Soldiers shouldn't be asked to decide. That's the job of Congress. My definition of defensive is a clear attack, like Pearl Harbor. In that case most likely everyone would want to participate in some way anyhow. 9/11 was a terrorist attack by an organization, not a state. I'm talking about offensive or equival wars, like Vietnam or Iraq. For those wars, recruitment should be as I stated, everyone to the age of 70 with no consideration given to age, sex, occupation or health status. Andy Amago > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html